First look inside Lime's new e-bike warehouse in London as firm reveals expansion plans

London’s biggest e-bike prosecute steadfast wants councils to person much on-street car parking bays into dedicated spaces for bikes to assistance it tackle the scourge of pavement parking.

Lime said the fig of Londoners utilizing its battery-assisted bikes had seen “astronomical” maturation – but the biggest occupation was riders struggling to find determination to permission the bikes.

It said its imaginativeness of getting Londoners retired of cars and onto bikes mirrored Mayor Sadiq Khan’s purpose of expanding “active travel”, and it wanted to enactment successful concern with City Hall and the boroughs.

“We are truly wide that banning bikes doesn’t assistance anyone,” Hal Stevenson, Lime’s UK manager of policy, said.

The Standard was fixed a behind-the-scenes circuit of Lime’s elephantine caller warehouse successful Tottenham – its 2nd successful the capital.

Lime bikes are presently disposable successful 17 of the capital’s 33 boroughs. “We are hoping to get that fig to 20 into adjacent year,” Mr Stevenson said.

Greenwich and Merton are expected to beryllium the adjacent boroughs to get Lime bikes.

Lime lone reveals partial accusation astir the fig of Londoners hiring its bikes.

“If you look astir the archetypal 3 years of our work here, we did astir 12 cardinal trips successful total,” Mr Stevenson said.

“In the archetypal fractional of this year, lone during commuting hours, we did 11.5 cardinal trips. The maturation has been astronomical, and what we are focussed connected present is making definite we are managing it responsibly, truthful that if you don’t usage our work it is not getting successful your way.

“The biggest situation is overcrowded parking locations. There are excessively galore radical wanting to permission their bikes successful the designated places that they are required to bash so, peculiarly successful cardinal London.

“We are moving with our spouse boroughs to physique much parking locations to marque definite that, wherever you rhythm successful London, determination is simply a harmless and convenient spot for you to permission your bike.

“Our ngo is to get much radical retired of cars and onto bikes. As portion of that, we request to instrumentality abstraction distant from cars and supply it for bikes.”

Lime began operating successful London six years ago. The Tottenham depot opened successful April. Its first, successful Bermondsey, opened successful 2021. Prior to that it was operating retired of overmuch smaller units.

Lime has astir 150 unit successful full astatine some depots. Lime has astir 200 depots crossed the satellite but replicates the aforesaid layout successful each to guarantee the motorcycle repair process runs arsenic efficiently arsenic possible.

Its 2 London depots repair “hundreds” of bikes a time – betwixt 5 and 10 per cent of the firm’s 20,000-plus bikes successful the capital.

Repairs are graded arsenic casual (under 10 minutes, specified a breached telephone holder oregon debased tyre pressure) to mean (10-20 minutes, requiring mechanical intervention) to hard (longer than 20 minutes and often involving electrical components).

Bikes that person debased ratings from users connected the Lime app are brought successful and examined for faults. There is besides a preventative attraction programme.

“The large bulk of repairs are for deterioration and tear,” said Kaan Tas, wide manager of the Tottenham depot.

Lime is looking to transportation retired much repairs connected the thoroughfare alternatively than having to transport the bikes backmost to a depot successful vans.

Its people is to get bikes backmost connected the thoroughfare wrong 24 hours. The aluminium framework bikes, which are built successful Asia, should person a lifespan of “over 5 years”.

There is thing of a “cat and rodent game” played betwixt Lime and London’s motorcycle thieves. A retrofit made them harder to hack, and an anti-theft alarm sounds if the motorcycle is taken aft not being correctly “locked” by its antecedently user.

Lime doesn’t “lock” the motorcycle wheels remotely for fearfulness of causing the rider of going implicit the handlebars and injuring themselves oregon others.

Mr Stevenson said Lime had lone been capable to win successful London due to the fact that of the years of concern successful rhythm infrastructure by successive mayors.

“We person lone been capable to beryllium palmy successful London due to the fact that we virtually and metaphorically cycled connected the lanes that person been enactment down by TfL and the boroughs,” helium said.

“We enactment precise overmuch successful concern with each of these organisations to marque definite we are getting much radical connected bikes and helping the politician and City Hall conscionable their ambitious progressive question targets.”

TfL and London Councils are looking to present city-wide standards connected dockless prosecute bikes. These could penalise firms whose customers dump bikes connected pavements – portion requiring councils to guarantee a minimum fig of parking bays.

But determination whitethorn request to beryllium antithetic rules for interior and outer London, wherever operators are acrophobic that bikes whitethorn person to beryllium parked excessively acold distant from wherever cyclists privation to commencement oregon extremity their ride.

Mr Stevenson said: “Generally we are successful favour of standardising immoderate of those rules, to simplify it for the users, for operators and for the boroughs arsenic well.

“But what we request to bash is marque sure, successful doing that, we don’t marque it harder for radical to get connected a motorcycle and cycle.

“We person got these truly ambitious progressive question targets that we are moving with politician and City Hall to assistance them meet.”

He added: “We are providing information that shows wherever radical privation to park, and crucially backing arsenic well, truthful that we tin assistance the boroughs get the parking.

“This twelvemonth we person spent already £1m providing dedicated parking infrastructure successful London. We are going to beryllium investing a batch much into that adjacent twelvemonth arsenic well.”

Asked astir caller sum of Lime motorcycle riders being spotted jumping reddish lights, helium said: “We are ever engaging with our riders to marque definite they are utilizing the work responsibly, whether that is stopping astatine reddish lights oregon parking successful the close place.

“It’s truly important for your ain safety, and the information of others, that erstwhile you spot a reddish airy you stop.

“All of the enactment we are doing present is to get much radical connected bikes, and to marque London to beryllium a much progressive and sustainable place. Then if you get a estimation for radical cycling done reddish lights that detracts from it.”